When One Divides
by Pebble900
Summary: There have always been four masters. One for each element. What if there were more? If each element had another master. This could only lead to disastrous consequences. When four other ninja enter the picture a new threat begins to rise. Neither master can control the elements, not even the legendary green ninja. And with romances distracting our heroes, will the overlord prevail?
1. The Party

**Hey guys! This is my second story. Hope you like it!**

**Warning: ****LONG**** A/N. Feel free to skip!**

**Ok, this is a birthday present to four different people, so bear with me hear. Yeah, only one of them is actually going to read it, but OH WELL! This story is dedicated to my cousin who turned 15 back on Valentine's Day, my brother who turned 9 on the 17th, my ****_other _****cousin who turned 5 on the 19th, and KaitouKiwi whose birthday is today. Congratulations to you all. This story is also dedicated to my cat, Pebble who has done NOTHING for this story other than repeatedly rub against my iPod, and sit on me while I'm trying to write.**

**DISSCLAIMER: I do NOT own Ninjago, but I do own Melissa, Skylar, Mia, and Rori. Melissa is inspired by my best friend, End of story goodbye the end. Though this story takes place after the final battle, Lloyd wears the gi he got from the Temple of Light. I just can't get used to his gold one. Yes, I know, I'm strange. LIVE WITH IT!**

**Now please enjoy! =D**

When One Divides

The Party

Kai raised his fiery sword, slashing it across the training dummy. The dummy split in half, quickly catching fire. The flames were extinguished soon after, by a chilling blast of ice.

"Careful," Zane cautioned, his gaze full of seriousness, but Kai detected a hint of humor in his tone. "We don't want to burn down the bounty. Nya wouldn't be pleased." Though he had his mask down, Kai could tell he had a little smile. The fiery ninja shared the smirk, before continuing with the training drill.

Cole knocked a dummy backwards with the end of his sword, letting it fall to the ground with a heavy thud. Jay jumped out from behind him, ripping it's front open, shocking it with his electric blue sword.

Lloyd saw them, and ran over from the dummy he'd been burning, shooting a ball at ice at the one lying in front of Cole and Jay.

"Dude. This one's ours," Jay growled, slight annoyance growing in his tone. "We already killed it."

"They're dummies," Lloyd stated, rather taken aback by his lightening brother's outburst. "You can never be sure when they're officially 'dead'." He gave the frozen dummy with a weary glance, before cautiously poking it with his foot.

"Guys," Kai called from the other end of the bounty's upper deck. "This exercise is supposed to be about teamwork. Not about who 'killed' which dummy." He crouched low like a footstool, as Zane sprinted across the deck and launched off Kai's back, freezing the three nearest dummies all at once.

"Try to top that!" Zane challenged, landing perfectly, crossing his white sleeves over his black gi.

Cole, and Jay shared a glance, before Cole crouched down, the same as Kai had done. Jay launched himself off Cole, however, he extended his leg, and raised his sword, as though to be attacking one of the giant stone warriors. His launch however, was just a little to the left of his initial target, so instead of hitting any dummies, Jay flew right into the Bounty's mast, wedging his sword in the sturdy wood. The blue ninja tugged a few times, but his sword seemed to be pretty wedged in.

"Uh... A little help," Jay laughed nervously. Cole couldn't help face palming, giving a frustrated sigh.

Suddenly, an alarm sounded, signifying that the drill was over. As the lights came up, twenty dummies were visible, half of which were heavily burned, frozen, or demolished in some other way.

"Good practice guys," Nya's voice sounded over the loudspeaker. "Jay, you need to to pay more attention to were you're landing."

"Got it," Jay blushed, sounding love struck, as usual.

"Lloyd, remember, this is a team effort," Nya continued to give helpful pointers, ignoring Jay."You're not alone in this."

"Ok," Lloyd sighed. After being treated so differently when he was training to destroy the Overlord, Lloyd was having a difficult time getting back to working as a team.

"Other then that, you guys did a great job," Nya smiled, pride in her tone.

"Sis, when will we actually fight something," Kai whined, not caring that he sounded like a pouty five year old. Ninjago city had been at peace, ever since the defeat of the Overlord.

"Isn't peace what you've been trained to protect," Sensei Wu asked, as he entered the upper deck from below.

"If there's nothing to defend it from, then there isn't really a need to protect it," Zane pointed out.

"True, but what if there wasn't anything to protect it, then when protection was needed, who would be there to ensure it was protected," sensei questioned.

"That's a big 'what if'," Jay stated, still hanging from the edge of his sword.

"Well, yesterday, we got an invite from the mayor, asking if you'd be special guests at a party for the bank," Nya chimed in.

"I don't know," Cole cut in, not sounding to fond of the idea. "Sounds like they just want free body guards."

"Oh, come on, Cole," Lloyd smirked, giving the earth ninja an unsettling feeling. "A party could be fun. Don't tell me your still trying to avoid your old boss."

Cole shifted a little in his place, trying to avoid eye contact. This only ensured Lloyd that his accusation was correct.

"I think this party sounds like fun," Zane stated, trying to break up the awkward moment.

"It's not like it'll do us any harm," Kai agreed, joining Zane.

"Aw, c'mon Cole," Jay whined, still hanging by his sword from the bounty's mast. "Can we please go?"

"Oh, fine," Cole muttered, finally giving in to the pressure of his brothers. "I guess we can go."

Soon as Cole turned his back, the others silently high-fived each other, with the exception of Jay, who tried swinging back in an attempt to free his sword. Nya, who was watching them, couldn't help laughing, causing Cole to turn around to see his brothers celebrating. He stared at them for a minute, not sure what to think, and eventually just shook his head, and made his way up to the bridge.

"When is this party," Zane asked, after he, and the others finished their little victory.

"Tomorrow night," Nya replied, still trying to contain her laughter. "It's a celebration for the bank's 50th anniversary. By the looks of it, more than half the city's going."

"It sounds like it's going to be fun," Lloyd remarked, "I've always wanted to wear a tuxedo."

"Ok, well if this is all decided, then will someone please help me down," Jay interrupted, rather sarcastically. Not even Zane could help a slight laugh as they tried to free their lightening brother's sword from the bounty's mast.

*At the party*

The ninja, and Nya arrived at the party just after eight o'clock. The ninja all wore matching black tuxedos, with their color tie. Nya had on a fancy, scarlet red dress which, in Jay's eyes, looked absolutely stunning.

Many tables had been set up around the room, leaving room for a huge dance floor in the center of the room. A DJ had been set up to play music, and strobe lights were displayed throughout the room.

"Nya, do you wanna..." Jay started rather nervously.

Nya smiled, knowing just what he was going to ask. "I'd love to dance."

As the two lovebirds left for the dance floor, Kai looked around, taking in all the faces of the different party guests. Out of the corner of his eye, someone caught his attention. A girl with dirty blonde hair, with a crimson red streak.

Melissa sat with her friends at one of the many tables at the party. They'd been there for about half an hour, and watched as the bank went from empty, to full swing party mode.

"Melissa, don't you want to dance," asked a girl with bleach blonde hair, and a soft white dress.

"Not now Mia," she sighed, twirling her red hair with her fingers.

"Surely you don't see one boy you want to dance with," said the girl with wavy black hair, raising her eyebrows.

"Maybe she just needs to get into the spirit," smiled the red headed girl with an electric blue dress.

"Skylar, Rori, I appreciate it, but maybe later," The dirty blonde glanced down at her red dress, trying to avoid eye contact.

"No time like the present," Mia winked at Skylar, and Rori, before grabbing Melissa by the wrist, and pulling her out on the dance floor. Melissa didn't even have time to react, for next thing she knew, she was in the center of a crowd of people all having a blast on the dance floor. She couldn't help but glare at her younger sister.

"C'mon, you have to have at least one dance," Rori protested with a whiny, five year old tone.

"Oh, fine," Melissa sighed, rolling her eyes a little. "Who should I ask?"

"How about him," Mia pointed to a boy with spiky, brown hair, a black tuxedo, and red tie.

"We should ask someone for a dance," Lloyd suggested, "we can't let Jay, and Nya have all the fun."

"What about them," Cole pointed towards a group of four girls. One had wavy black hair, and a short black dress. Two of them looked like sisters, one with blonde hair and white dress, the other was the one Kai had spotted earlier. The fourth had fiery red hair tied up in an electric blue ribbon, and similar colored dress.

Kai took one look back at his friends before walking up to the girl with the streak of red in her hair. _If you wanna dance with someone, you gotta start somewhere_, he encouraged himself.

"Hey," Kai tried to pull a smile, but his nervousness got in the way. The girl turned, meeting his steady gaze.

"Uh, hi," she started nervously, but quickly gained confidence in herself. "What's your name?"

"I'm Kai," he replied. Seeing that the girl was just as nervous as he was gave him a small sense of comfort.

"Nice to meet you Kai," she smiled, raising her arm for a handshake. "I'm Melissa."

Kai met the girl's handshake, and felt as the nervousness began to well up inside him again. "Would you like to dance," he asked nervously, expecting her to say no.

Melissa smiled, giggling a little. "I'd love to."

Almost as if on cue, the music changed tempo, as one of those slow love songs came on. Kai felt a little awkward at first, but slowly as he realized everyone was dancing to, he felt more, and more comfortable about it. The fire ninja actually found himself really enjoying it, not that he expected that he wouldn't. It didn't feel at all like he thought. When he was younger, he remembered finding romance disgusting. This wasn't that. It was nice.

Around him, Kai saw his brothers all enjoying themselves as well. Lloyd, and Cole were back at the table, each talking to one of the girls that had been with Melissa earlier. Zane was also on the dance floor. With another girl. Kai had to admit he was rather impressed. Emotions had always been difficult for his nindroid brother. This one however, seemed a lot easier.

As the slow song came to an end, Kai, and Melissa stayed on the dance floor. When they were just about danced out, the two grabbed some punch, and sat with Lloyd, Cole, and the two other girls they'd been talking to. Zane was no where in sight, probably still out on the dance floor.

"You guys looked like you were having fun out there," Lloyd remarked, a slight smirk creeping across his lips. "Who's your new friend?"

"I'm Melissa," Melissa chimed in, pushing her streak of red hair behind her ear.

"Nice to meet you," Cole greeted, "I'm Cole. This is Lloyd. And I presume you know Kai."

"I'm Skylar," spoke up the girl next to Cole. She had long wavy dark brown hair flowing down her back. Her midnight black dress sparkled in the strobe lights. "This is my friend Rori," Skylar gestured towards the girl sitting next to Lloyd. She had bright red hair that had been pulled back into an electric blue ribbon. Her dress was a similar shade. The black frame of her thin glasses stood out against her freckles.

"Hi," Rori smiled, shyly. Her voice was soft, and quiet.

"So, where do you guy know each other from," Melissa asked, trying to strike up a conversation.

"Oh - we uh..." Cole started, not really sure how to respond. It seemed most sensible not to directly reveal that they were ninja. These girls didn't seem to recognize them, so maybe it was best just to not tell them.

"We met at - er..." Kai tried to help

His brother out, but found himself in a similar situation.

"Summer camp," Lloyd blurted out, relieved looks spread across Cole, and Kai's faces. "Cole used to hide my stuff."

"Yeah, cause you always cut me off in the lunch line," Cole argued, trying to work with Lloyd's improvisation.

"So, how do you know each other," Kai interrupted before they could go any further with their summer camp story.

"Oh, well, Skylar and I went to school together," Melissa explained.

"Rori lives down the street from me," Skylar continued.

"And Mia's my younger sister," Melissa added. Kai smiled knowing that he could relate this girl who also had a younger sister.

They all continued discussing things about themselves, and one another. The more they talked, the more comfortable they felt around one another. The whole time, Zane was still out on the dance floor with the girl they later learned was Mia.

Everyone had fun at the party. Even Cole who didn't want to go. Nothing out of the ordinary happened. That is until one interesting phone call. From there, everything began to fall apart.

**Ok, this chapter is slow going, but it really picks up in the next chapter, which I will have up most likely some time this weekend. I have several prewritten chapters already, which is a good start. Please R&R, follow, fav, blah, blah, and so on. ;)**


	2. A New Enemy

**Howdy! Got back from drama just in time to update. Now I'm in a western mood since are play is a western. I can't believe it's nearly tech week.**

**Anyway, hope you guys are liking this story so far. Some of you probably know this by now, but this story had become my pride and joy. I don't go a day without thinking about it anymore. So please leave a review. I greatly appreciate it. Follows and favorites to. Anyway, ignor me, I'm a nag. Go on! Read this patently awaited chapter already!**

A New Enemy

Cole, Lloyd, Melissa, Rori, and Skylar were deep in conversation. Zane and Mia were still somewhere in the mob of people on the dance floor. No one had seen Nya or Jay for hours, but that had been expected. Kai stepped away from the table for a minute to get some more punch.

As Kai took a seat back at the table, the others were still deep in discussion over who knows what. Not really looking to join the conversation, the fire master ran his fingers around the rim of the plastic disposable cup. As the others were talking, a familiar ringing reached his ears. Instinctively, Kai looked up, glancing around in search for the source of the soft noise.

"Excuse me," Skylar interrupted the conversation, pulling out her phone. "I better take this." She said, getting up from her seat after glancing down to see who the caller was. Her reaction to whatever the caller ID read was interesting to Kai. He couldn't quite put a finger on it, but her facial expression read that it wasn't a good thing.

Kai watched Skylar closely as she paced back and forth along the wall, always remaining just out of his earshot. Though he couldn't make out what she was saying, he could tell by her urgency and expression it wasn't good.

Melissa was slowly starting to pay less, and less attention to Lloyd. Skylar was on the phone with who knows who. And Kai seemed lost in his punch.

"Hey," Melissa nudged him gently in the side, breaking him of his thoughts.

"Oh - yeah," Kai jumped a little, gradually coming back to reality.

"Wanna dance some more," asked the dirty blonde, pushing aside her scarlet red streak of hair.

Kai smiled a little now that he seemed to have forgotten what was ever so interesting about his punch. "I'd love to."

Melissa was just about to get up when a soft finger tapped her on the shoulder. Startled, she whipped around, her long hair flying, lashing across Kai's face. She was relieved however to see that it was only Skylar.

"I need to talk to you," she whispered urgently, he tone full of seriousness. Instead of arguing, Melissa turned back to Kai, who was rubbing his cheek where the tips of her hair must've hit.

"I need to talk to Skylar for a minute," she stated, placing a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to get a look at where her hair left a mark. "Can I join you on the dance floor in a minute?"

"Yeah, sure," Kai replied, still rubbing his cheek.

Melissa nodded, and followed Skylar through the crowd, to the back of the room. With all the flashing, multicolored lights, she kept finding herself rather disoriented, and losing her footing.

"What is it," she asked soon as they were out of earshot from anyone who might try to listen in on their conversation.

"We have to leave," Skylar told her.

"What? Why? I'm not in any hurry, and neither is Rori or Mia," Melissa protested, clearly not wanting to leave the party any time soon.

"And I don't either, but do you want to tell him that?," Skylar retorted, holding up her phone, showing a picture, and name for who called.

Melissa gasped as she realized who "he" was. Angering him was not a clever move. To do so could have disastrous consequences. It would be smartest just to do as he pleased.

"I'll get Mia after I tell Kai," Melissa sighed. She was hoping she and Kai could have at least one more dance, but now that just couldn't happen.

Kai watched as Melissa, and Skylar slowly worked their way through the crowd, back to the table. A grim look on their faces.

"What's wrong," the red ninja asked as soon as they returned.

"Kai, I have to leave," Melissa responded glumly.

"What? Why do you have to leave," Kai gasped, rather shocked that she had to go so suddenly.

"Oh - uh, Skylar's dad wants us home," she hesitated, "we're in big trouble if we don't leave strait away."

"Oh," Kai sighed in disappointment. "Maybe we can get together again," he asked, hopefully.

"Yeah," Melissa's tone brightened at the idea. "Here," she pulled out a napkin, and scribbled something down. "My number."

Kai looked at the napkin and the inky, scribbly numbers as if he was trying to memorize it before ripping off a small unused section, writing down his own number. "Here's mine," he handed the other half of the napkin tucking the half with her number in his pocket. Melissa glanced down at the napkin before doing the same.

"Call me," she smiled before turning and following Skylar, and Rori to the dance floor in an attempt to find Mia.

The rest of the party wasn't as much fun. Zane joined the others after Mia left. Nya and Jay eventually met up with them at the table.

To Kai, the passing minutes felt like hours. Now and then, he'd pull out Melissa's number, and examine it. He considered bringing up the idea of leaving early, but he didn't.

Everything continued normally. No unusual activity. Cole didn't even see his old boss, which he found quite relieving. Something was coming though. Something bad. Something that wouldn't easily be forgotten. Not by anyone.

All was going perfectly fine at the party. Suddenly, an earsplitting crack sounded over the dance floor. This captured all the ninja's attention instantly. The bank began to shake as guests began screaming, all running for the entrance in a desperate hope of escaping the madness.

Over the dance floor, large cracks were visible in the ceiling. As the cracks grew wider, the bank continued to violently shake.

"Are we having an earthquake," Jay shouted over the chaotic screams of frightened guests.

"It appears that the cracks are coming from one main focal point in the ceiling, where as in an earthquake, there would be more activity in the floor. This is defiantly not an earthquake. The irregular, yet consistent pattern of shaking is nothing natural. It's as if the building was under attack," Zane assessed, trying to keep a calm tone.

As the cracks continued to widen, and plaster began to fall, the ninja spotted the last things they expected to see. In the center of all the cracks, something had broken through the ceiling completely. It appeared to be the tip of a scythe.

As the scythe was removed from the center, it was brought down again. The building shook even more violently. With all the shaking, even larger chunks of plaster began to fall from the ceiling, down onto the dance floor. Luckily, the dance floor was deserted of guests, for most of them had already escaped, or were having some sort of panic attack in the corner.

As plaster fell, it continued to come down in larger, and larger chunks. The ceiling suddenly opened up to the black, moonless night sky. With all the shaking, the strobe lights had fallen as well, leaving the bank completely dark, except for the little starlight shining through the giant crater in the ceiling.

"Ninja... GO!" cried a voice from the rooftop.

The ninja immediately took defensive positions, despite wearing tuxedos. Suddenly, four tornado like figures came spinning down from the gaping hole in the ceiling. One was on fire. One looked half frozen. One had boulders orbiting around them. One looked as though it was ready to electrocute anyone who came near.

As they landed, four ninja took their places. In outfits identical to those of the original ninja.

Instinctively, Kai reached behind his back for his sword. However, all his fingers could find was empty air.

"Where are our weapons," Kai shouted to his teammates over the chaos.

"We didn't bring them," Cole stated.

"What reason would we need our weapons at a party anyway?" Zane pointed out plainly.

"That reason!" Kai retorted, pointing at the four ninja who just crashed through the ceiling.

"That looks like a pretty good reason," Jay agreed, panic growing in his tone.

"If we don't have weapons, and we can't do spinjitsu in these tuxedos, we're sitting ducks," Cole pointed out.

"I officially hate tuxedos," Lloyd muttered, narrowing his eyes at this new threat.

"Are we sure they're not on our side," Zane asked, trying to make sure they'd assessed all aspects of the situation before drawing any conclusions.

"They just crashed through the ceiling onto a big party in a very fancy bank, causing massive amounts of damage,"Jay cried, "I don't think they're looking to give cookies to the children of the world."

"We should at least try to find their purpose for coming here," Lloyd suggested, trying to sound at least somewhat hopeful.

"Where are the ninja!" cried the second ice ninja.

"Uh, I think they're looking for us," Jay replied, really panicking now.

"Maybe they won't recognize us," Kai thought out loud.

Without thinking twice, Cole picked up a chunk of plaster, and chucked it at the second earth ninja. "I thought I defeated you last time, me," he growled, furrowing his bushy eyebrows.

"Why would I ever want to be you," the second ninja of earth spat in disgust, catching the chunk of plaster, and crushing it with their fist.

Unlike the copies Garmadon had made, these ninja had different, slightly higher voices. Their eyes didn't look at all like the other ninja, nor were they glowing red. And there were only four. Earth, fire, lightening, and ice. No green ninja. Whatever they were, they weren't just copies. The glint in their eyes. Could they be girls?

Cole gazed wide eyed at the other ninja. She slowly came nearer, and nearer, keeping her scythe at hand.

"Now, would you kindly tell me where the ninja are," she repeated, anger rising in her tone.

"Uh," Cole sputtered, his skin coated in a nervous sweat. "There?" He pointed towards the other three ninja that had entered the building with her.

The second earth ninja looked back at her companions, before turning back to Cole, filled with rage. She raised her scythe, and swung it right into him. Though it didn't break any skin, the force sent Cole flying into the wall, knocking the breath out of the black ninja.

Kai, Jay, Zane, Lloyd, and Nya, not knowing what else to do, hid under the table, hoping to avoid the same fate as their brother. The second fire ninja noticed this right away, and while the earth ninja was still interrogating Cole, she flipped the table over, and raised her sword threateningly at them.

"I have a feeling you do know," she glared at the five of them, her tone full of an evil harshness. "And you will tell me." She turned to Nya, getting right up in her face, and pressing the tip of her sword into her throat just hard enough to make her breath more panicked and labored. "Starting with you."

Kai totally lost it with the fire ninja's threat. "Get away from my sister!" he cried, launching himself on top of her.

The two rolled off to the side, deeply engaged in their tussle. The fire ninja did her best to take advantage of their rolling, and pinned Kai to the floor. "Or you," she growled, glaring at him with a menacing look. "I don't have a preference."

Kai didn't struggle, nor did he say a word. He only met her gaze, holding his ground as hard as he could. The fire ninja was growing impatient with him, and his stubbornness, annoyance growing in her gaze.

"Fine," she concluded, raising her sword again, hoping it would intimidate him enough to make him talk. "If you're going to play this game, then I'm not afraid to use force to get it out of you."

However, when she brought up her sword, the fire ninja's weight shifted just enough for Kai to throw her off, and get away. Using every bit of strength, he shoved her off, jumped to his feet, and ran behind some larger chunks of fallen plaster.

It took a moment for the fire ninja to regain her balance, but once her head stopped spinning, she looked off in the direction she thought she saw Kai run off to. Not seeing him anywhere, she turned back to the others only to find they had hidden as well. Not bothering to search through the rubble, the second fire ninja moved on to interrogating some of the other guests who where trapped in the bank.

The earth ninja continued to pick on Cole, however she was beginning to patience with his constant refusal to talk.

"I'm going to ask you one more time," she had Cole pinned against the wall with her scythe, crushing him more with every question he failed to answer.

Cole, despite his desperate desire for relief on the incredible pain of the earth ninja's scythe squishing every breath out, he held his tongue. The earth ninja's gaze bored into his, sharp enough to cut through steel. But Cole kept a firm foothold, and wouldn't give.

"Very well," the earth ninja released her scythe, and Cole collapsed to the floor.

After the sudden relief of suffocation, Cole gasped, and broke into a fit of coughing. His head was spinning, and his temples were throbbing. Slowly, he managed to regain his balance, and gathered himself to his feet.

The earth ninja narrowed her eyes at Cole, pleasantly surprised that defeating him was so easy, though he still wouldn't talk. Without a warning, she brought a heavy punch to his torso, with enough force to send him flying back against the wall.

The earth ninja took one more quick glance at Cole. Her expression was completely emotionless. If she even had any emotions, she was very good at hiding them. She didn't let her gaze linger though, and quickly turned away, and stalked off.

Soon as she was far enough away not to notice any movement, Cole ducked under some of the larger chunks of plaster and ceiling, in search of his friends.

"Cole," Cole heard a hoarse whisper call his name. "Over here."

Cole turned to his left to find Lloyd peeking through some rubble. "This way."

Cole followed the green ninja through the maze of plaster, trying to prevent the winding paths from making him dizzy, and provoking a headache. Eventually Lloyd lead him to a dirty looking door to what must've been a janitors' closet.

The two stumbled through the door into a dark room. Though he couldn't see anything, Cole sensed the body heat of others, and could just make out the barely audible sound of breathing. As his eyes adjusted, Cole could just make out the silhouettes of Jay, Zane, Nya, and Kai in the darkness. The others appeared to have only a few scratches, but Kai seemed pretty beaten down. He sort of lost track of them after that other earth ninja lost it with him.

"Is everyone alright?" he asked. Though he could see everyone now, he wanted to make sure there wasn't any damage that he couldn't see, or needed serious attention.

"Aside from some scratches and bruises," replied Nya, "and the fact we're trapped in a supply closet. Fine, I guess."

"We have to do something," Jay cut in, more determination in his tone than usual. "We can't just hide in here."

"Jay's right," Zane agreed, "they will, find us eventually. When they do, there's no chance they'll show us any mercy."

"We need to fight back," Kai growled, making a fist.

"Did you see them?" Lloyd cried, having trouble imagining the other ninja ever beaten in battle. "They're practically indestructible."

"Let's not jump to any conclusions," Cole slowed him. "First we need to properly asses the situation."

"Maybe we don't need to beat them in battle," Zane pointed out, quickly grabbing the attention of his brothers. "If we could just distract them long enough to escape, that would work."

"I think I have a plan," Jay piped up. "I'm not too proud of it, but it may work."

"We're all ears," Kai said, as the others gathered around the blue ninja, listening closely to the plan. It wasn't the best of plans, but being their only option, they went for it.

**Oh snap, this is not good! Jay has a plan! What will this mysterious plan be? I know what it it already. But you don't! Find out Tuesday! Or Wednesday. Not sure when I'll post exactly. I've got a million things to do this weekend, so that should be just awesome... :/**

**Follow, favorite, R&R, and all the good stuff!**


	3. Jay's Plan

**Here it is guys! Jay's awful plan. This chapter is defiantly my longest yet. OVER 4,000 WORDS! That's the most I've written for one chapter, hands down. Lots lots of different POVs going on. A whole ton of fighting too. So those of you who like fighting sequences, you should enjoy this chapter. I think this is the first chapter where you really get a feel for some of the mysteries and secrets behind what's happening on the front lines.**

**And now my sister's snoring weirdly again. Man, I'd throw something at her if I could... :/**

Jay's Plan

"Ok, is everyone ready?" Cole asked after they had gone over Jay's plan several times.

None of them liked the plan that much, but it was the only apparent solution. It was only to give them time to escape anyway, for these other ninja had already made it clear that they wouldn't be beaten easily, and they were in no shape for a fight.

"We're ready," Zane nodded, although no one saw through the thick, stuffy darkness of the supply closet.

"Nya, are you sure your alright with this," Kai asked his sister, concern in his tone.

"Kai, I could kick your butt in a fight any day, I think I'll be fine," Nya reassured him.

Kai blushed a little at the thought. Lucky for him, Nya didn't see in the gloomy darkness.

"Do you think the plan will work?" Lloyd asked Cole, having growing doubts about the plan.

"Most likely, not," Cole answered plainly, not caring if he sounded rather blunt. "But it's the only plan we've got, and once Zane can send a transmission to the falcon, we can alert sensei, and get out of here."

"This is defiantly our worst plan," Lloyd sighed, kicking the the wall with impatience.

"Worse then crashing through the roof of Darkley's," Kai agreed.

"Hey, that was kind of fun," Jay argued, "I mean, yeah, most of my plans almost get us severely injured - maybe nearly killed - but that's why I'm not in charge around here."

"Everyone, gather by the door," Cole ordered, ignoring Jay's ranting. "Weapons ready?"

"These really aren't weapons, they're more like fake weapons we threw together in five minutes out of anything we could find in this closet," Lloyd pointed out.

"Yes, well we really don't have time to care about those little details, and I've already got enough on my mind right now aside from weapons," Cole muttered, not appreciating Lloyd's comment.

The ninja and Nya gathered near the door. Cole raised his makeshift scythe, and prepared to bring it down on the door.

"Three... Two... One!"

The ice ninja paced around the heavily demolished bank, keeping on high alert incase any threat towards their mission happened to be lurking in the shadows. She had become very accustomed to darkness, for that's where evil thrives, but even if it seemed trustworthy, a new surprise may be just apron them. The ice ninja learned all this from her sensei. After he found her, he promised to teach her the all the secrets of Ninjago.

She'd learned the stories of how light defeated the dark long ago. But it was a cowardly victory. The first master of spinjitsu split the great land of Ninjago, separating the dark from the light. The people of Ninjago continued to thrive on the light island, for they believed the darkness was gone forever. They were wrong.

The darkness wasn't gone. It was merely; delayed. When five ninja came to the dark island, in search of a man who had been driven mad by evil, and a desperate search for power, the darkness began to rise once again.

The man found her sensei, and insisted that they form a partnership, and conquer Ninjago together. It wasn't a bad idea, for the man was a good leader for the stone army, but he did have one major flaw.

The man had a close relationship with one of the ninja, the green ninja specifically. The man happened to be his father, and was too close to his son for her sensei's liking. Though it was stated in the prophecy, the man refused to defeat his son, and allow darkness to thrive once again.

So, naturally, her sensei did what had to be done in order for darkness to take over. He took over the power crazy man, and assumed the position of destroying the green ninja. From there, he brought darkness to the light island.

But those rude ninja who refused to accept that they'd been rightfully beaten, returned to Ninjago city. Her sensei did whatever was possible to destroy them. He turned the stone army loose, he set the city's population against them, he even successfully turned some of the ninja, and one ninja's sister evil.

How that green ninja still beat him, was beyond her. Luckily, he wasn't destroyed. Her sensei managed to live on in the shadows of Ninjago, though he was incredibly weak.

As for the green ninja, he got everything. He became "the ultimate spinjitsu master," a title that stung the ice ninja whenever she heard it said aloud. He got a golden dragon, when he already had four (or maybe it was one. Did each individual head count as a separate dragon?) dragons that seemed pretty strong, and couldn't already do anything that this new dragon could. He even got his father back. Not a drop of evil still in him. That foolish man who let his family get in the way of a battle that goes centuries back.

Though he'd lost everything, her sensei didn't give up. He developed a new plan. He found four girls, and trained them as ninja. He told them that they must destroy the other ninja. The ice ninja was devoted to bringing down her opposite, and letting the darkness take over Ninjago once again.

Her sensei failed to mention any details however about these ninja. What they knew was they were five boys. They were under specific instruction not to touch the green ninja, but only the the ninja of the same element as their own. One of them had a sister who lived with them on what sounded like a giant flying ship. Not any names, or what they looked like were ever mentioned, but what did that matter? The ice ninja knew that when she found the other ice ninja, she would destroy him. For it was time darkness ruled the land of Ninjago.

The ice ninja turned back to her companions, and watched from afar as they interrogated guests who didn't make it out with the rest if the crowd on what they knew about the ninja. Why did no one seem to know anything about the ninja? Her sensei hacked the bank's email, and made sure that they were on the list. He even checked to confirm that they'd be here tonight. Everyone in Ninjago knew about the ninja, so why weren't they letting anything on?

The ice ninja went back to pacing the shadows, checking to see if any trapped guests weren't already spotted and/or interrogated. Did the ninja escape in the crowd? Surely the "heroes" of Ninjago wouldn't leave all these civilians trapped in the bank. Maybe they were hiding...

But the ninja of ice didn't have time to finish her train of thought. A loud bang and crash sounded from the other side of the room. The ninja of ice spun around, instinctively pulling a shuriken, spinning it with her fingers, ready to aim.

As the dust in the air cleared away, there stood six... Ninja? They looked like a bunch of crafty little six year olds who'd been messing around in the recycling. They'd wrapped themselves in toilet paper in what must've been some attempt at makeshift gis. One held a broomstick with a... Stapler at the end? Was that what that was? One had just a broomstick, which must've been a sword or something. Another held what must've been shurikens that had been cut out of card board. The fourth had two paper towel tubs connected by a paperclip chain. The other two didn't have weapons, but looked ready for a fight.

Their gazes were full of seriousness, but that just made the ice ninja collapse in laughter. She didn't, for that would be incredibly unprofessional of her, and her sensei warned her about not taking threats seriously. Even if they were... That.

"Who the heck are you?" growled the earth ninja, who began pacing towards them.

"We're the ninja you're looking for," the one with the broomstick sword narrowed his eyes, stepping forward as if to seem threatening.

"You're kidding right?" the ninja of lightening raised her eyebrows, sounding as if she was struggling to keep her laughter down.

The ninja held a firm gaze, not showing any sign of backing down.

"If you are the ninja," the fire ninja approached the ninja with the broomstick sword. "How come there are six of you? Last I checked, there were only five."

One of the ninja without a weapon diverted their gaze. The ninja of ice saw hesitation growing in his - or her. It was possible that this was the ninja's sister, though she wasn't technically one of the ninja - eyes.

The fire ninja stepped towards him - or her - and eyed this sixth ninja suspiciously. "Who are you?" she asked this sixth ninja.

Before they could answer though, the fire ninja found herself with a broomstick pointed at her throat.

"Back away from my sister," growled the ninja. So it was his sister.

The fire ninja met his threat, bringing her sword to his broomstick. The two began to duel, everyone around them watched intently. What struck them all as peculiar was that neither ninja seemed to land a hit. Every move seemed perfectly matched on both sides.

Finally, the fire ninja backed the ninja with the broomstick into a corner. She raised the sword tip to his throat, her eyes brightening with the easy victory. Suddenly, the other ninja did something unexpected.

"Ninja... GO!" he cried, and suddenly turned into a flaming tornado.

"They are the ninja," the fire ninja gaped in surprise.

"Get them," the earth ninja cried, and charged at the ninja with the odd looking scythe.

A wicked smile spread across the ice ninja's lips as she charged at the ninja with the card board shurikens. She smiled at the thought of beating up toilet paper ninja. This was going to be fun!

As the others engaged in the fight, Kai continued battling with the fire ninja. This time, using every once of his elemental powers as he could.

He understood this was diverting from the plan majorly, but it's not like he could just let the fire ninja have at his sister. Nor could he explain the plan to her. As long as Zane got the transmission sent to the falcon, everything would be fine.

The fire ninja soon met him with an equally large tornado, and threw herself at Kai. The two collided with such force, they were sent flying in opposite directions. Kai flew into the wall with a deafening thud. The fire ninja fell on Lloyd, who growled with agitation, and threw her off.

As Kai gathered himself to his feet, he spotted the fire ninja still struggling to get up. Trying to seize the moment, Kai channeled his elemental powers through his sword, and slowly it began to glow a fiery red.

The fire ninja finally stumbled to her feet. Her gaze quickly fell on Kai, and she charged at him. Kai raised his sword, and swung it down, cutting through the air like a knife. From the broomstick, a large orangey red fire ball flew out towards the fire ninja.

She managed to dodge it, but just barely. The fire ball singed her red and black gi, leaving sooty black marks in certain areas. Unfortunately, the fire ball had a worse affect on Kai.

Being that the sword wasn't an actual sword, and was only a wooden broomstick, it couldn't take the heat, and burst into flame. The flame glowed bright and hot, causing Kai to drop the sword in fright. But the flame was spreading fast, and being covered head to toe in toilet paper made him practically a walking match.

The fire quickly jumped to his hands, burning through the toilet paper, strait to his skin. Kai's eyes grew wide with fear as he frantically looked for a solution. Having no bright ideas, he began to rip the un burnt toilet paper off his arms, in a desperate hope it would prevent it from spreading to the rest of his body. As the toilet paper that was already up in flames turned to soot, it revealed burned, blistered skin underneath.

The fire ninja smiled at Kai's fail to send her up in flames. Kai glanced down at his sword to see it was still burning strong, and getting anywhere near it would most likely lead to a similar event to the one that just recently occurred, only it would most likely be much more drastic.

He tried to grab a chunk of plaster to hurl at her, but as soon as he touched anything, a severe pain surged through his fingertips, making his hands and arms virtually useless. As the pain consumed him, Kai collapsed to the ground, his vision growing blurry, and head spinning like a top.

Through blurry, half closed eyes, Kai could just make out the fire ninja preparing to throw a fire ball his way. Right when it was about to be launched, something - no - someone collided with the fire ninja, bringing her crashing to the ground.

"This is what you get for picking on my brother," growled a voice, that immediately struck Kai as familiar.

"Nya," Kai whispered hoarsely.

"We got your back," Lloyd reassured him, joining Nya's side.

Kai smiled slightly, before his vision became even more blurred, and he blacked out.

The ice ninja sent one of her shurikens flying at her opposite. It's sharp blades cut through the air with ease as it sailed towards its target. At the last second, the ninja with the card board throwing stars slid to the side, narrowly avoiding what almost struck his chest. The shuriken instead wedged itself into the wall.

_No_, thought the ice ninja. She only had two shurikens, and she couldn't afford to lose one. Her opposite decided to advantage of her mistake, dropping his card board cut outs, and pulling her shuriken from the wall. He looked quite pleased with himself for confiscating a real weapon, which deeply angered the ice ninja.

The ice ninja transformed into a giant icy whirlwind, and barreled after the other master of ice, a deep hatred towards him building up inside her.

"Thief!" she screeched as she bowled him over.

Something happened when she collided with him though. The ice ninja felt herself suddenly lose control over her spinjitsu. Her opposite was sent flying into the rubble as her tornado of ice became increasingly large. Large to the point where she had lost all control, and was spinning aimlessly through the rubble, and bits of fallen ceiling.

Finally the spinning ceased, and the ice ninja found herself with her face flat against the wall. Only one word could describe the sharp feeling coursing through her nerves. _Ow!_

As the ice ninja peeled herself away from the wall, through a dizzied gaze, she spotted her opposite stumbling out of the rubble. Pulling her other shuriken from her gi, she prepared to throw it, but the other ninja was too quick. Before the shuriken left her fingertips, the shuriken he stole pinned her sleeve tightly to the wall.

After several frantic, but fruitless attempts at freeing the shuriken - and herself - something caught her attention. Instead of going to help out his buddies, or beating on her some more, her opposite stepped out onto the middle of what once was the dance floor. He reached to open a panel in his arm, pressing some buttons as if he might be typing a message. Wait- he did what?!

The ice ninja watched him closely, deciding that learning her enemy's behavior, and using that against him in the future was more important than continuing to fail at escaping. However, she couldn't quite wrap her head around over the fact that he had a panel in his arm. Could he be a robot? Her opposite was defiantly a mysterious character, that was for sure.

Seeing that he wasn't doing anything other than whatever it was that had to do with that panel in his arm, the ice ninja began to look around, and observe the rest of the battle. She had to crane her neck, and thrust her chest forward in order to get a good look around though.

The ninja who had a sister and carried the broomstick around was in a heap on the floor. His sword was next to him, completely ablaze. Blisters, and burn marks went all the way up his arms, any toilet paper that was once there was gone. Luckily it looks as though he got the fire under control before he became a human torch.

He was defiantly unconscious, maybe even dead. No, she decided. If he was, his sister would be bawling over him like a baby. The ice ninja knew she would do just the same if her sister was dead.

The two ninja without weapons - the green ninja, and the other ninja's sister - stood defensively in front of him, fending off her companion, the fire ninja. She looked as though she was trying not to harm them though. She must've remembered that their sensei said they mustn't harm the green ninja. She wondered so often why he wanted that, but she never questioned his authority.

The ninja with the nunchucks appeared to be having a lightening battle with the other ninja of lightening. It looked pretty intense, for the lights around them were flickering rapidly. Those two were producing enough energy to power the whole city. Neither of them looked as though they had much control over it though. Lightening kept striking at different metal objects around the room. The ice ninja only prayed that the lightening wouldn't prey on the shuriken pinning her sleeve to the wall.

Why couldn't they control their elements? First, the ice ninja lost control of her spinjitsu. The ninja passed out in the corner probably had not intended to burn himself like that. Neither of the lightening masters seemed to have much control over the lightening. What in Ninjago was going on?

The earth ninjas seemed to be having similar troubles. The other ninja seemed to have broken his scythe, and had resorted to his fists. Their blows were very poorly aimed, and it appeared that they couldn't control how much strength went to each hit.

Suddenly her opposite shouted something across the room to the other earth ninja. The ice ninja soon realized what they were up to. Her opposite, the robot, must've been trying to communicate with someone, and judging by the hint of triumph in his tone meant he succeeded.

The ice ninja felt a new rage burn through her, giving her a second wind. Without a struggle this time, she yanked the shuriken out of the wall. Her opposite starred at her, wide eyed, sensing her anger.

The metal shurikens became so cold, they burned at the touch. The ice ninja threw them both at her opposite. One went sailing over his head, but luckily it doubled back, unlike the other time, and aloud itself to be caught easily. The other landed just at the other ice ninja's feet.

A sheet of ice began to spread fast across the floor, which surprised the ice ninja, for she hadn't intended that to happen at all. The ice ninja watched with satisfaction as fear began to creep it's way into her opponent as he backed away from the fast spreading ice. Before long, the ice had caught up with him, and he had to be careful about where stepped if he was to avoid it.

For a second, he hesitated before placing his foot down. What he didn't know was that the ice spread so fast, it was already where he planned to place his foot. The ice caught the ninja off guard, causing him to slip, and fall on his back with a thud.

The fast moving ice began to travel up his foot and lower leg, fixing it in place. The ninja was paralyzed by fear, unable to move, or try to chip away at the ice.

The ice ninja smiled with a feeling of satisfaction. Who knew this would be so easy?

Cole paced around his opponent, waiting for the right moment to strike. His makeshift scythe had broken early on in the fight. Though he felt a slight disappointment, he wanted more than anything to have his good old scythe back.

The earth ninja took another swing again, but it was poorly aimed. Cole managed to catch the scythe, and with all his might, he pushed it into her. The earth ninja fell over, but managed to keep a hold on her scythe.

"You know," Jay called from fighting with the lightening ninja. "If they were dressed as zombies, or vampires, this could be Halloween."

"Jay, not the time for a joke," Cole rolled his eyes, preparing to take another blow.

"Hey, I'm not good in a crisis," Jay retorted, Cole couldn't help but agree with that remark. "The least I can do is try to brighten the mood."

"Cole," Zane cried from across the room.

Cole blocked a few more blows from the earth ninja before responding. "Yeah?"

"Transmission sent," he shouted back with a triumphant tone.

Cole was relieved to hear this. Though they decided in the plan to avoid fighting, that was impossible now. But before he could reply, the lights began to violently flicker again.

Different sections of the room started lighting up, and going out. All of a sudden, every light in the room was on. It was blindingly bright in there. But just as quick as they came on, they went out.

Out of the corner of his eye, Cole saw Jay collapse. The other lightening ninja must've finally gotten the upper hand.

"Lloyd," Cole shouted through the intense darkness. "Help Jay."

"Got it," Lloyd called back, leaving Nya and Kai to check on Jay.

Oh no, Cole thought. They couldn't keep the fight going much longer. They'd already lost Kai and Jay. Lloyd and Nya wouldn't be able to hold up much longer. Zane looked ready to collapse. Cole wasn't even sure how much longer he could keep going himself.

As he tried to keep up with his opponent, Cole noticed a thick sheet of ice was beginning to cover the floor. Between dodging blows, and sending a few of his own, Cole spotted Zane trying to avoid the ice which was now hot on his tail.

Cole watched in slow motion as Zane lost his footing, and fell to the ground. The nindroid looked utterly terrified, unable to move. Cole was about to give the order for someone to go help him, when he realized there was no one left.

Cole took a step back before delivering another blow. Suddenly, a chilly, icy feeling engulfed his foot, and slowly crept up his leg. He looked down to see what was happening, and just as he feared, ice and frost was beginning to encase his left leg.

He shivered in fear as it reached his knee, and continued to climb upward. However, a sharp blow to the stomach managed to break the ice. The earth ninja, which for a split second he almost forgot about in his panic, brought the scythe to his torso, leaving a nasty gash in his side, and sent him flying over near the dance floor.

A sharp pain filled his side as the toilet paper became sticky with oozing blood. Cole felt as if he could hurl as the pain gripped him tighter, and he became increasingly dizzy. _We're done for_, he thought hopelessly.

Just as his vision began to fade, a search light shone done through the gaping hole in the ceiling. The bounty.

"Retreat!" cried one of the other ninja, but he had know idea which one it was.

As the bounty came nearer, Cole felt a happiness he'd never felt before. But as soon as the good feeling came, it was gone, and he blacked out.

**Wow, that was crazy! Poor ninja. Sometimes I feel bad for putting them through so much pain. Then I remember it's going to get worse. This is a dark story. I'm a dark writer. I have dark thoughts. That's actually probably a good thing. It'd I had bright thoughts, then that would mean there's a flashlight or something stuck in my brain. That would be bad.**

**Any ideas for who this sensei is? Yeah, it's pretty obvious, but lets have some guesses. I'll let you know it the next chapter if you're right.**

**MoonBlazer: That'd be great, just PM me.**

**Until the next chapter! Gosh, stop snoring already! It's really annoying!**


	4. What Happened?

**The Saturday update. Wooh! It snowed EVEN MORE yesterday. I was upset. Curse you Mother Nature. You know I'm one for warm weather. Why must you keep it from me? WHY?!**

What Happened?

Kai opened his eyes, but quickly shut them again, not to fond of the harsh light. Using his other senses, the fire master tried to figure out just where he was.

Instead of scratchy toilet paper, a soft light fabric clothed his skin. Except for his arms which were oddly num. All he could feel was a sort of buzzing, vibrating sensation in his fingertips and muscles.

As he rolled over, Kai felt something on top of shift a little. There also seemed to be something soft and squishy under his head. He must be in a bed. He had no idea wether or not if it was his bed. He wasn't sure of anything that had occurred recently.

He knew he was Kai, and he remembered he was a ninja, and his four brothers, and Nya. He remembered sensei, Misako, and Garmadon. He remembered the final battle was about six months ago. But anything over the last few days was gone.

He only remembered something about a party, dancing with some girl named Madison - no, Melissa, toilet paper ninjas, and lots of fire. What happened?

All those things together didn't seem like a good combination. Well, dancing with a girl sounded nice, but not the rest of it. Kai tried hard to think about one thing at a time.

The girl. Her name was Melissa. She had dirty blonde hair with a crimson red streak. As he thought about her more, a good feeling filled the ninja's chest. It suddenly occurred to Kai that he had a crush on her. Her number! Though he wasn't sure where the napkin was, he could remember the exact numbers._ Maybe I'll call her later_, thought Kai.

The party. That's where he met Melissa. They danced there too. He could vaguely remember something about Cole not wanting to go because of his boss. Something bad happened there. The more he thought about that party, he kept thinking more about fire and toilet paper ninjas. Toilet paper ninjas. Whose awful idea was that?

When Kai though of fire, he began to remember the pain. Images started filling his head. He saw - himself? - crashing through the ceiling, almost attacking Nya twice, and beating on him. So he was attacking himself? That doesn't sound right.

_No_, he realized. It was another fire ninja. There was another earth ninja, another ice ninja, even another lightening ninja. They weren't copies though. If they were, then they wouldn't have been able to land a hit, and judging by all the blows that other ninja landed on him, and the fact it didn't completely destroy him, they must be other ninja. If that even made sense.

What about the others? Could they remember everything? Or were they in the same position as he was. Realizing he still couldn't quite think strait, Kai thought he might get a glass of water.

Kai opened his eyes slower this time, more prepared for the light. Through squinted eyes, he could just make out his room on the bounty. Cole was still in bed, but Lloyd appeared to have left some time ago.

After the bounty crashed on the dark island, they managed to recover it after the final battle. It needed much work done though if it were ever to fly again. Jay and Nya managed to completely fix it up. They redid the floor plan and everything, providing them with more space, and extra bed rooms. So instead of the five of them being confined in one room, Kai shared a room with Cole and Lloyd. Zane and Jay shared the room next to theirs.

Misako and Garmadon ended up finding there own place, but they visited very often. A bunch of rooms where added, leaving room for guests and family to stay on the bounty. Other improvements were made, such as larger training spaces, a bigger kitchen, even a larger video game room.

Kai's attention immediately snapped to the bandages wrapped around his arms, going all the way up to his elbows. How did that happen?

Shaking his head, Kai headed to the kitchen for a glass of water. As he opened the door of the refrigerator, his eyes fell upon a glass pitcher filled with water. As he lifted it up off its shelf, it was much heavier than he remembered. Kai tried instead lifting with his shoulders, hoping it would relieve his stiff bandaged arms of the wight.

Instead however, his hands began to tremble and shake, causing the water to start sloshing over the sides, completely soaking his pajama top, and leaving puddles on the floor. The water left the sides of the pitcher wet, causing it to slip out of Kai's shaking hands, and crash. Completely shattering on the floor.

"Gaah!" Kai cried, jumping back in surprise.

Not sure what to do with all the broken shards of glass, Kai threw a towel over the mess, hoping it would absorb the water at least. With soaking pjs, the red ninja gave up on his glass of water, and wandered up to the bridge, hoping someone might be there that he could talk to. If Jay was up, then that wouldn't be a problem at all.

In the bridge, Kai found Lloyd, Zane, Sensei Wu, Misako, and Garmadon. They must've come sometime last night. Misako was frantically searching through her research as if she lost something. Sensei and Garmadon were talking in hushed voices that were impossible to make out. Lloyd and Zane were sitting on the floor in the back of the room. The falcon was perched next to Zane who was stroking its little head.

"What's going on?" Kai asked in confusion.

"Kai, you're awake," sensei smiled. His smile quickly faded as a question came across his mind. "Why are you all wet?"

"Kai you've ruined those bandages," Misako cried in distress. "There are some more in medicine cabinet in the bathroom. Go change them."

Kai nodded, surprised by Misako's tone. Well, that didn't answer any of my questions, he though as he made his way to the bathroom. The bandages were in the medicine cabinet just as Misako had said. Setting the gauze wrap down on the sink, Kai began to strip off the old bandages which he hadn't even realized were sopping wet.

The red ninja almost yelped in surprise at the sight underneath the bandages. The skin was badly burned, much of it was beginning to peel away, revealing the raw and blistered skin underneath. Kai did his best to wrap the new bandages the same way they were originally, not wanting to look at the skin any longer.

Just the sight made his head start spinning, as the nausea overtook him. Kai's legs began to shake as he collapsed to the floor, clutching his stomach. He began to remember burning his broomstick, and losing control of the fire. Slowly, the fire master came back to his senses, he gathered himself to his feet, and made his way back to the bridge.

Back at the bridge, Kai joined Zane and Lloyd on the floor. Misako was still looking through her research, and only looked up to see if Kai found the bandages. Sensei and Garmadon were still whispering about something. It must've been really important if they'd been talking about it for this long.

Kai stared at the floor, lightly drumming his finger on the wooden floorboards. His wet pajamas felt cold as they clung to his skin. The silence was unbearable. Normally, it was a nice thing to have around now and then. But this silence was too heavy. There was so much he wanted to say, yet he couldn't bring himself to break it.

"What happened that night?" Kai asked finally, no longer able to bear the quiet. "Who were those other ninja? Why couldn't I control my fire? What in Ninjago is going on here?!" As soon as he opened his mouth, questions started flowing out like a river. He couldn't control his temper any more. By the last question, he had completely lost it.

Everyone turned towards Kai, all of them staring at him wide eyed. Kai looked down at his feet, preparing for a scolding or punishment of some sort.

"You have a right to be concerned Kai," Sensei Wu agreed. Kai narrowed his eyes in frustration, not seeing how this answered any of his questions. "The truth is; I don't know. I don't know who those other ninja are. I don't know why you couldn't control you fire. And I don't know what in Ninjago is going on."

Kai diverted his gaze, suddenly feeling bad about his outburst. "My apologies, sensei. I didn't mean to loose my temper."

"No, it's alright. This is very stressful for all of us," sensei sighed, "what happened last night is indeed a mystery. I do know when we finally got to the bank after receiving Zane's transmission from the falcon, none of you were in good shape. Only Zane, Nya, and Lloyd were still conscious when we arrived."

_Nya_, Kai thought with panic. He'd forgotten all about his sister. "Is Nya ok?" he asked with brotherly concern.

"She and Lloyd were wiped, but not seriously injured," sensei reassured him. Kai let out a sigh in relief. At least his sister was ok.

"How are the others?" Kai asked cautiously, not sure if he'd like the answer

"Jay got electrocuted, but no serious injuries," Sensei Wu continued. "Cole has a bad wound in his side, but it's getting better."

Kai nodded, and went back to staring at the floor.

"Is there any theory behind how this all could possibly have happened?" Zane asked, ceasing his petting of the falcon to join the conversation.

"I've been looking through my research, but nothing's come up," Misako sighed, glancing back at her papers and scrolls. "None of these prophecies seem to have anything on the matter. No other ninja. No problems with elements. Nothing."

"Would you like us to help you go through the research," Zane asked, thinking they could be more than just sitting on the floor.

"Yes, please," Misako smiled, welcoming them over to the table.

Kai began searching through Misako's scrolls with Lloyd, trying to avoid getting too close, worrying he might get them wet. Some of the research were the older prophecies and papers they'd used during the final battle. Others neither of them had ever seen before.

A few hours later, Jay joined them in their search. The room remained quiet though. Sensei and Garmadon continued to talk in lowered voices. Kai figured they must've been talking about these "other ninja."

Occasionally he could make out what they were saying, but it appeared to be just what he suspected.

As the sun rose through the sky, and gradually began to fall, Lloyd, Kai, Zane, and Jay continued to sort through Misako's research in silence. Cole never showed up, but that was expected.

Misako wanted him to remain bed bound until the wound closed. She said it wasn't too serious though, and he'd probably be up and moving within the next week. Though he'd lost a lot of blood, there was no damage done to any critical organs, which was a relief.

Many of the prophecies didn't make any sense to Kai. The only ones he really understood had something to do with the green ninja, and he'd already seen those ones many times before. The others just seemed to be weird omens, or something else strange.

_Though one may be dull..._

_If you add another..._

_They can hold almost anything you please..._

Two dull things holding anything he pleased. All Kai could think of was a sandwich. Who writes a prophecy about that? Or this one.

_When one divides..._

_Two will collide..._

_And a new evil is born..._

What was that supposed to be about? The apocalypse, or something? With a sigh, Kai pushed it aside, and picked up another scroll. This was becoming pointless, and tedious. How could they find something if they didn't know what that something was?

"Why don't you all go take a break," Misako said finally, after hours of silently searching. "It's nearly six o'clock. You should get some rest."

The four nodded, not bothering to argue, and headed back to their rooms. On the walk back, it occurred to Kai that he hadn't called Melissa. He still remembered the digits exactly, though he had no clue where that napkin ended up last night. It was either still in the supply closet, or possibly somewhere on the bounty.

Once back in his room, Kai quickly changed into a cleaner pair of pajamas, since the others were still, somehow quite wet. Happy to no longer be surrounded by a damp cold, the red ninja sat out on the upper deck of the ship, in hopes of calling Melissa.

Kai reviewed the number in his head a few more times before picking up his phone, and dialing. He took a deep breath before punching in the ten digit number. For what felt like an eternity, the only audible noise was the _bzzzzzz_ as the other line waited for someone to pick up.

"Hello?" said a gentle voice from the other end.

"Hey, Melissa. This is Kai," Kai started rather nervously.

It just occurred to him he never actually called a girl before. He'd called Nya a few times for numerous reasons. Then he'd call an aunt or some other relative to wish them happy holidays, or something. But never had he called a girl to ask out on a date.

"Oh hey Kai," Melissa greeted with a cheery tone. "How was the rest of the party?"

"Oh- it was good," Kai replied hesitantly, not sure how to explain the story with directly revealing he was a ninja.

Kai knew he had no reason to hide it, but since she didn't already know, he wasn't sure wether or not she'd flip out. Plus he didn't want it being a big public thing. For once, he wanted to keep it low, and just enjoy it without fame, or publicity, and live it like any other teenager should.

"Did you hear about what happened at the bank?" Melissa asked, concern edging into her voice.

"Uh, no. What happened?" Kai asked, though he was certain he knew just what she was talking about.

"Some other ninja attacked the party," she burst as if she couldn't hold it in any longer. "I don't know any details, but I heard the ninja that protect the city were badly injured."

"Oh, yeah. They all took a lot of damage, except L-" Kai stopped himself just in time.

Gotta be more careful about that, he thought to himself.

"What?" Melissa asked, not understanding a word he just said.

"Oh- uh..." Kai started, struggling to come up with something to cover his mistake. "... Except Lloyd sat on the remote, and changed the channel before we caught anything else. He can be clumsy like that sometimes."

"Oh," Melissa sighed slightly, relief flooding Kai for finding a believable coverup. "Mia does that too. She did that once to Skylar, and who then chased her around the block with a baseball bat for like an hour."

"Wow," Kai raised his eyebrows in shock. "I wouldn't want to get involved in that."

"Yeah. Skylar has her moments," Melissa agreed, sound rather tense, as if she was checking to make sure the brunette wasn't listening in on their conversation. "She eavesdrops too, so you always want to keep an eye out for her."

From the other end, Kai could here gentle a footfall from what he assumed must've been Melissa moving to another room, as if Skylar was watching her.

"So," Kai started as soon as the footfall ceased. "I was wondering if maybe we could have lunch in the park tomorrow."

"Yeah, that'd be great," Melissa replied excitedly. "I've always enjoyed picnics. I'll bring some PB&J sandwiches."

"I'll bring a picnic blanket," Kai smiled, sharing in the excitement.

"Met you by the lake at noon?"

"I'll be there," Melissa smiled, her voice full of an energetic tone. "See you then!"

"See you then," Kai repeated, to the dirty blonde.

After he hung up, the red ninja couldn't help but celebrate his little victory. Noon by the lake, he repeated to himself. Noon by the lake. Kai knew he'd be looking forward to this.

He had a good feeling whenever he was around Melissa. A feeling he hadn't felt before. Did he really have a crush on her? _Yes_, Kai thought to himself. It was a crush.

**Ok, so unfortunately, I might not update this for a week or two. My drama class has tech week this week. For those who don't know, tech week is where we run the show whole on the stage with the set, sound effects, lighting, and all that fun stuff we haven't worked with before, but need to before the show. That means I'll be at my school from 4 to 9 starting tomorrow, until Friday when we open. I was told to have all my homework done before hand, so I really can't focus on Fanfiction. If I'm not sleeping, eating, working, or performing, I will try to write, MAYBE post. Sorry. I'm NOT going on hiatus. I will defiantly update on the 19th. Until then.**


	5. Nightmares

**Hello people, I'm back, and publishing on the 19th as promised. I am just exhausted from my drama rehearsals and show weekend. It was so much more emotional, the last few days. At the end of the cast party, I admit my friends and I were bawling our eyes out.**

**Shorter chapter than usual, but a decent length. It was once part of the next chapter, but it occurred to me that it would be incredibly long, so I went with two shorter chapters instead of one long one. This is all Kai's dream, and there is no dialogue. Yeah, sometimes my brain is just weird, and won't put dialogue in a chapter. Eh, doesn't really matter. Please enjoy. :)**

Nightmares

Kai and Melissa sat at a bench in the park. The glistening blue green lake in sight. The sky was clear and cloudless. A gentle breeze was blowing, smelling of sweet flowers

Children around the park flew their kites high, filling the sky with vibrantly colored clouds. They laughed and cheered as the kites danced around, flipping a twirling on the breeze.

Kai and Melissa were talking, and laughing. _This is perfect_, he thought. _Just how I imagined it._

As they talked more, the wind began to pick up, more crisp than the original breeze. Over his shoulder, Kai saw little children crying as the wind carried their kites away. As the kites floated up into the sky, they turned a shade of gray, and began to grow larger. Before long, the sky was filled with giant storm clouds.

The wind continued to blow harder, and more violently. The trees began to sway and bend like acrobats. The sound of thunder rolled in, making a horrendous sound. Following the thunder, a bolt of lightening hit right in the center of their picnic bench. Kai jumped back in surprise. Melissa's woven basket which was right at the table's center had been reduced to soot and ashes.

From the sky, lightening continued to strike around the park. One strike occurred right above the lake, electrifying the suddenly electric blue water. From the water emerged a figure wrapped in an electric blue and black gi. The lightening continued to strike around them as they walked up the footpath that lead away from the lake.

Out of nowhere, a blue commit collided with them, creating a massive explosion of electricity. As the dust cleared, a figure identical to the one that emerged from the lake was deep in battle with its twin.

They looked just like Jay. Or maybe they where the lightening ninja from the party. Or were they neither?

As their fighting continued, the ground began to shake violently. A crack in the ground opened up just below the picnic bench. As it widened into a chasm, the table broke in half, separating Kai and Melissa.

"Melissa!" Kai shouted across the gap.

Melissa didn't respond, for she only stood there, shaking in fear. Kai thought he might cry at the sight of her trembling. The way the wind blew at her blonde and red hair, wrapping it around her face like a net. She looked mortally terrified.

As panic and fear began to grip him, Kai took a step back, and leaped across the chasm. As the chasm widened, he only made it to the edge, managing to grab a hold of the other half of the picnic bench. With a struggle, he hauled himself over the chasm's lip, onto solid ground.

Once on his feet, Kai rushed over to Melissa, wrapping his arms around her, holding her close to his chest. He felt her uneven sobs and gasps for breath, immediately knowing she was crying. Her face looked sunken with fear. Her tears left crisscross patterns on her cheeks from the way the wind blew.

And to think minutes ago, this was the cheery girl he was having lunch with.

As the wind blew harder, the ground continued to shake once more. From one end of the chasm erupted a spinning whirlwind of dirt and rock. An identical whirlwind soon appeared from the other end. The two began to battle one another, just as the lightening ninja had done. But these ones looked like Cole.

Kai was utterly confused by everything that was happening around him. As if it couldn't get worse, the wind sent a freezing chill down his back. As he let go of Melissa, the temperature of the air around them began to drop dramatically.

The gray storm clouds turned a lighter white color, and started dropping tiny flakes of snow. Everything around him seemed to be coated in a layer of frost. Even Melissa. The sight scared him a little. A shivering girl, glazed in snow white crystals.

The wind caught the little hexagonal ice crystals, and began to dance around with them. Blowing them directly at The red ninja's face. It started softly, like a gentle breeze. As the wind blew harder, it felt more like shards of freezing glass were blowing at his face.

Ducking behind his arm in a desperate hope to avoid the wind, Kai winced at the snow's sharp sting. Moving his arm away from his line of vision, but keeping it near enough he could easily cover his face again if the wind began to pick up again. He noticed the wind was beginning to blow around in a circle around one main focal point.

The wind continued to blow the snow in this tornado like shape, becoming tighter and stronger with each passing heartbeat. Within moments, the winds formed a spinning whirlwind of ice. Across the park, Kai saw a similar whirlwind forming.

Though the wind continued to blow hard, both whirlwinds stopped at the same time, two white ninja replaced them, their gazes fixed on each other. Oblivious to the lightening, earthquakes, and snow all around them, the two engaged in a fight, deeply focused on destroying one another.

Kai couldn't wrap his head around all this. It was incredibly overwhelming, all the action. Something that did come to his attention was the way these ninja were effecting the bazaar weather, and natural disasters occurring.

The lightening seemed to be striking most around the two electric blue ninja. Striking in sync with each move of the ninja. Same for the earth ninja. Most of the shaking in the ground was centered around their battle. The icy wind seemed to blow mainly around the two ice ninja. As odd as that seemed, it made sense to Kai.

Each pair of ninja was effecting their element. When one earth ninja landed a blow on the other, the ground shook more violently. As one lightening ninja made a hit on the other, the lightening around struck harder, and more uncontrollably. The same seemed true with for the ice ninja.

Almost as if the element didn't approve of one master using it against the other. If elements even had the ability to feel such things. Was that what was really happening? What if the same sort of principal was true at the bank.

Maybe that's why he couldn't control his fire. That must be why his broomstick flamed out like that. Well, it was a broomstick after all. They are made of wood. An incredibly flammable material.

Almost as if the thought of fire provoked it, the sky above Kai turned a fiery orange, giving the clouds a flaming appearance. As the freezing cold feeling around him melted away, the red ninja felt as sweat began to coat his skin I'm the sudden immense heat. Panting now, he glanced around in search of Melissa. The heat was starting to mess with his head, creating illusions, and false senses of danger.

Kai took a step backwards, his foot snapping a little twig behind him. The sudden tiny split of wood caused the delusional red ninja to jump out of his skin. Heart pounding in his chest, Kai relaxed slightly when his eyes fell upon Melissa. She too was panting, coated with sweat. Her eyes however seemed to be fixed on a horror around them.

A feeling of dread filled Kai as he too noticed what seemed to have Melissa petrified with fear. In the heat, the trees around them had completely dried up. The dehydrated branch tips began to curl back towards the tree before emitting a small glow.

With no moister left in the tree to keep in alive, the whole thing was up in flames within seconds. All around, the different trees across the park that weren't currently being effected by one of the other elements were ablaze. It was a truly horrifying sight.

As if things couldn't get any more terrorizing, a flaming comet fell out of the sky, crashing not more than ten feet in front of him. From the remains of the crash emerged a fiery whirlwind, glowing bright, and hot. It collided with Melissa, plucking her off her feet, and throwing her around in the whirlwind.

Kai couldn't tell wether he was crying now, or if it was just all the sweat. Trying to hide his ever growing fear, he stepped back into a defensive position. Every muscle in his body tried to fight against his will, the heat tiring draining them of every last drop of strength.

The whirlwind stopped abruptly, revealing a red ninja. Elemental sword pinned to Melissa's throat. Tears streamed down the girl's cheeks. Not sweat - Kai was certain of it this time - tears. Kai felt his sudden energy burst depleted as fast as it came.

Kai collapsed to his knees in defeat. He felt the sweat pour off his face, and soak his skin. Wait. Those where tears. He glanced up at the fire ninja in defeat, trying his best to avoid Melissa's expression. It was heartbreaking. To much for him to look at.

Almost as if the heat was too much, the crimson streak in Melissa's hair began to melt, engulfing her face. It took Kai a moment to comprehend this, but within seconds he had a new horrifying image engraved in his head. As the red streak covered her whole body, it began to soften, gaining more if a fabricy appearance. Within moments, Melissa had transformed into another fire ninja.

This time however, instead of attacking the fire ninja next to her, she pulled out a sword, and pointed it at Kai. Kai tried to pull himself to his feet, but his muscles were still weak from the heat, and he fell to the ground.

Resorting to crawling, Kai began backing away from the two fire ninja. Around him, the other ninja ceased fighting one another, and began to walk towards Kai as well. As they entered the section of the park that had been effected by the fire element, their different colored gis changed to black and red.

It came to Kai's attention that now he was surrounded by eight fire ninja. As they began to close in around him, he could do nothing. The heat had worn him out. He was to hot and tired to do anything.

As his vision began to waver, Kai couldn't even keep track of the fire ninja. It seemed that the number had grown from eight, but it was impossible to tell. He watched as one ninja raised their sword high. As they slashed it down, everything turned black.

**Oo, suspense! Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. It's sick how much fun I had writing this. It really is. :/**

**Review, follow, fav, and all that good stuff. :3**


	6. The Picnic

**Hey guys. Yeah I know ita late, but it's still technically Saturday.**

The Picnic

Kai woke with a jolt, sitting strait up, covered in a cold sweat. His breath coming heavily as he tried to recollect just what happened in his nightmare. In short, worst date ever.

The red ninja began to relax a little as he came to the realization that he was in his own room, and not surrounded by clones of himself, all trying to kill him. What was that supposed to be about? _I'll never understand dreams_, Kai thought to himself.

Kai sat up against the head of his bed, his breath slowing, but still coming quite heavy. Gazing around the room, the red ninja began observing different things around him. Lloyd was still fast asleep, the occasional change in facial expression, or twitch of his foot suggested he was having a little nightmare as well. Hopefully one that wasn't as terrifying. Kai couldn't even imagine what it would be like to be surrounded by eight green ninjas. Every element at there fingertips, all the ultimate master of spinjitsu. Just the thought made him shudder.

Misako was tending to Cole across the room. Her back was too the fire master, unaware that he had awaken from his slumbers. Quietly slipping out of bed, the only audible sound was the creaking of the old floorboards, Kai tip toed over to the door, planning to freshen up in the bathroom.

On his way down the bounty's long corridor, it occurred to him he should re wrap his bandages. Kai, not being very good with medical business, didn't do nearly as good of a job with the gauze as Misako had with the ones he soaked the other day. His wrappings were peeling away, revealing the burned blistered skin underneath. There was no way he was meeting Melissa in the park in such condition.

Happily stripping off the worn bandages, it occurred to Kai just how itchy the skin underneath. He felt his muscles tingle and tickle, begging to be scratched. Knowing it probably wasn't a smart idea, the red ninja tried instead, rubbing is fingers over the areas that were the most unbearable.

As his fingertips reached the irritated skin, and slowly applied pressure, he began cringing in pain. The nerves in his fingers were still very sensitive, and didn't want to be worked in such a way. As for the itchy spots, they only became more irritated, demanding to be scratched even more. Unable to resist the urge, not finding any other solution, Kai leaned up against the wall, rubbing his arms vigorously against the splintery panels.

He felt an instant relief, however it was short lasting. His nerves quickly filled with a burning pain, partially from the friction, but mainly his still weak muscles. Kai gasped in agony, pulling away from the wall. The searing pain continued to throb as he removed his arms from their contact with the wall.

As the pain gradually dissipated, Kai splashed some cool water on his face, rubbed some soothing ointment on his arms to prevent the itch, and gently re wrapped them with gauze. Back in his room, while Misako still caring for Cole, Kai caught a quick glimpse of the the clock. Eleven thirty, it read. Not wanting to be late, the red ninja quickly changed into a plain tee shirt, red sweatshirt, and jeans.

He wasn't entirely sure where he could find a picnic blanket on the Bounty. The kitchen maybe? Somewhere in the bridge? There wasn't much of a need for one on the Bounty. Did they even have one? Surely there was one somewhere that had been untouched for quite some time.

Kai found himself eventually searching through some old boxes lying around the back of the training room. Many of them full of things they would most likely never need on a flying ship. A watering can, lawn chairs, those creepy, pink, plastic flamingos you stick in your yard. Gosh, those things creeped him out. Why would anyone make fake flamingos? They didn't even live anywhere near Ninjago city, so why would you have plastic ones on your lawn? And they're so clearly fake. Who invented such a dumb thing anyway?

Most of it was outdoor stuff, and since there was no outside, grassy area, there wasn't really anywhere for it. Why did they even have this stuff in the first place? It was absolutely useless to the ninja.

Finally, stuffed at the bottom of one especially big box was a picnic blanket. It was a little tattered, but it was in decent enough condition. It was more than Kai expected, considering he was starting to believe that they didn't even have a picnic blanket.

Folding the picnic blanket up into a size that was easily portable under one arm, Kai left the training room, and headed up to the main deck. As he entered the bridge, he was surprised to find only Nya was there, steering the ship over Ninjago city.

"Hey sis," Kai greeted her cheerfully.

"Hey Kai. Sleep well?" Nya smiled, reaching over, and tapping a little blue button. Kai assumed it was the autopilot, for she left the wheel after, taking a seat at the table.

"Oh, uh, fine," he lied. The red ninja knew he should tell her about the dream, but he had to be at the park soon, and it wasn't something that could be explain quickly or simply. "I was wondering if you could drop me off a few blocks from the city park."

"Shouldn't you be resting?" Nya asked suspiciously.

"Just thought I'd get out for a little while," Kai replied nervously. "You know, stretch my legs. Get some fresh air. It's better than being cooped up on the Bounty." Goodness, he was telling a lot of lies. He was going to have to make it up to her later.

"Oh, I guess that's alright," Nya sighed with uncertainty. "Just, be back before three. Just so no one gets worried."

"Alright," Kai smiled at his younger sister. "Will do."

The siblings were silent the rest of the way to the park. No one said a word until they reached their destination. Kai said a quick "see you later" to Nya before disappearing to the streets below, headed for the park.

Kai wove his way silently through the crowded streets of Ninjago city. As he came upon the park, the red ninja realized it was just like his dream. Or at least the scene in the park. Children with kites. People laughing, and enjoying themselves. Something that would normally make Kai smile was giving him an uneasy feeling. It was too much like his dream.

Kai strolled through the park, eventually finding his way to the lake. Glancing down at his watch, the little digital numbers read noon. Not seeing Melissa anywhere, the red ninja of fire decided to wander around the perimeter of the lake until she came.

"Kai," called a voice from the other side if the lake, after the red ninja made it about halfway around the lake.

Through the few trees encircling the lake, Kai could make out Melissa waving to him. In her arms sat a woven basket. It to looked like the one from his dream. At least her attire was different. In his dream, she wore the same outfit from the party. From what he could see from the other side of the lake, she was wearing a lime green tee shirt and dark blue jean shorts. Her hair was pulled back into a half pony.

As Kai walked back to the other side of the lake, he spotted a crimson bracelet matching the streak in her hair. She wore a necklace that appeared to be a rabbit made out of metal. It was a pretty shade of coppery pink, contrasting perfectly with her shirt.

"Hey Melissa," Kai greeted the girl once he was within her earshot.

"Sorry I'm late," Melissa smiled as he joined her by the lakeside. "Mia insisted she should help make sandwiches, but ended up making a huge mess instead."

"It's fine," Kai couldn't keep down a small chuckle. "Where shall we sit?"

"Hmmm," Melissa wondered, surveying the area around the lake. "How about there?"

The girl pointed a thin finger towards a shady slope next to the lake. The wind tugged at the ends of the grass, causing them to sway on the breeze.

"It's perfect," Kai smiled as he walked over to the slope, and spread out the picnic blanket.

From the spot Melissa chose, there was a great view of the lake. It's surface sparkled and dazzled in the sunlight. In the trees overhead, little birds were visible playing in the branches. Kai reached upwards to point them out when his sweatshirt sleeve slipped down to his elbow, revealing the gauze bandages.

"Kai!" Melissa gasped in shock. "What happened?!"

The red ninja's eye widened as he frantically tried to think of a good coverup. "I, uh... Burned myself."

_Great job stating the obvious, genius_, Kai thought to himself. At least that wasn't a lie. He probably should've considered the fact his "sword" was made of wood before trying to send his element through it.

"How?" Melissa asked, deep concern reflecting in her eyes.

"Uh... I'm not really sure," Kai started, slowly easing his way into some believable story behind his burns. "I passed out after the incident, and now it's all fuzzy. I'm ok though. It'll get better fast."

"Oh," Melissa sighed, more relaxed. "That's a relief."

The rest of their picnic went by - in Kai's mind - perfectly. No kites flying away transforming into clouds. No violent earthquakes. No sudden snow or wind. And no melting hair, or multiple red ninja trying to kill him.

The whole time, this one little question was in the back of his mind. Kai couldn't help but ask her. He had a crush on Melissa, and he had to let her know.

"Melissa," he started after they'd finished every last sandwich, and moved closer to the lake, letting their bare grass stained feet dangle just below the water's surface.

"Yeah," Melissa perked at the sound of her name, looking up from watching her toes make ripples across the lake.

"Will," he started nervously. "Will you go out with me?"

"Hey, look at this stick," the dirty blonde pointed to a strait stick lying a few feet away from her.

Kai stared at Melissa, confused on why she changed the subject of the conversation to something so odd. Melissa grabbed the stick and began to write something in the mud. When she finished, she leaned to the side so Kai could see.

_Yes._

Kai felt himself flood with happiness when he read the word underneath.

_Boyfriend._

Kai smiled, before taking the stick, and writing something himself.

_Girlfriend._

Melissa was smiling now too, causing them both to start laughing. With one toe, Kai flicked some water at her. She glanced at him quickly with an "oh no you didn't," look before kicking water all up his leg.

Before long, the two were splashing around in the lake, completely soaked. Kai no longer cared if his bandages got wet, or if Sensei and Misako didn't approve of him sneaking out without their permission.

"I should probably leave," Melissa said after their splashing around in the lake. "Mia's gonna be wondering where a I am."

"We should have a night out together this week," Kai thought out loud, pulling off his sweatshirt to wring it out.

"I'm pretty busy," Melissa replied slightly disappointed. "Maybe this weekend?"

"I'll call you Saturday night," Kai nodded, agreeing.

"See you soon," Melissa walked up the shore of the lake before turning around to wave goodbye.

"Bye," Kai waved back.

A feeling of pure happiness filled him instantaneously. Nothing could ruin this day.

**Read, review, blah, blah, him tired, goodnight peeps!**


	7. Recovering

**Hey guys. I'm really sorry about not posting for a while. I've caught up with myself, so I have to post chapters as I write them now. I will try to follow my Tuesday Saturday schedule, but I make no promises. Do know there will be longer periods of time between posting.**

Recovering

The sharp tip of metal sliced through the wood with ease. The upper half of the training dummy tumbled over with a satisfying thud. Though the victor didn't enjoy this satisfaction as much as he'd hoped. The scythe dropped to the floor, clanging as it fell. It's master knelt to the floor, holding his sides.

It had been several days since the incident at the bank, and Misako had finally let Cole off bed rest, allowing gentle exercises to prevent his muscles from growing too weak after not being used. The black ninja started with simple exercises; stretches, push ups, and all that sort of stuff.

After so many restless days and nights of lying in the same position, Cole felt more than eager to kill a couple dummies in the training room. He understood now why Misako said "gentle" exercises. The black ninja felt the muscles around his scar tighten up.

To try to ease the pain, Cole took a few deep breaths and did a few gentle stretches in hopes it would loosen the muscles. As the immense pain slowly dissipated, Cole ceased his stretches, and just laid down on the floor. Staring at the wooden panels covering the ceiling, the master of earth, felt a feeling of hopelessness weigh him down.

These evil other ninja were somewhere at their hideout, dojo, training area, or wherever they retreated to after a fight, probably training and preparing to take them out. Cole on the other hand could barely wipe out a few training dummies, his companions not much better off. Why can't these ninja pick on someone else? Maybe steal ice cream from a little boy in the park. Something that didn't involve the ninja.

As Cole continued to think about those other ninja and the party, someone else drifted through his thoughts. Those girls they met at the party. Zane looked pretty cute dancing with that Mia girl. Kai was clearly hopelessly in love with Melissa. Lloyd defiantly seemed to enjoy Rori's company.

What about that Skylar girl? She seemed to older than all the others, and pretty much taking charge over the others. She also appeared somewhat awkward around big groups of people, almost like she wasn't the type to speak out. Cole liked that about her. Then there was the other side of her he only heard about through her friends that seemed crazy and out going, but that seemed to only be the case when she was around people she knew. If only he'd gotten a little closer with her that night. Maybe he could help bring her out of her shell.

Maybe after they got those other ninja out of the way, he could try to find her. He wanted more than anything to destroy that earth ninja. Make him - no, her - feel the horrific pain she caused him that night. The horrific pain he could still feel now from not following Misako's instructions. Ok, maybe he deserved that for trying to get back into the swing of things too quickly.

The whole deal with the elements though was very peculiar. Though they were richly defeated, not even the other ninja seemed to have complete control over their spinjitsu. But other things weren't right either. Jay and the other lightening ninja couldn't control the electricity they bounced around the crumbling bank. Cole had no control over the aim or force in his punches, and the other earth ninja seemed to experience the same difficulties. Kai couldn't control the fire in his sword at all. Ok, maybe that makes sense considering that his sword was made of wood. How could his fiery brother overlooked that?

Not even that ice ninja's shuriken should've been able to create ice like that, especially since it wasn't one of the golden shurikens of ice. It shouldn't have been able to almost freeze Zane, and his leg. There was defiantly something wrong with this. Was there something that he was overlooking in the situation?

There are four new ninja. They have the same elements as the current ninja that are protecting Ninjago. They're also girls.

All these thoughts were getting crowded in his head. Cole got up off the floor, and rushed back to his room, grabbing a pen and paper off the dresser. The black ninja lay on the floor, and began scribbling down things from that night that might have lead to the elements misbehaving.

-_Who;_

_•four new ninja_

_•girls_

_•same elements(earth, fire, lightening, ice)_

_•have a grudge on the ninja protecting Ninjago for some reason_

_•masters of spinjitsu_

_-Other possible factors;_

_•where; the city bank_

_•when; late at night_

_•Jay's stupid toilet paper ninja idea_

_-Notes_

_•other ninja only attacked ninja of the same element_

_•acted strangely around Lloyd, almost as if they are afraid of him_

Cole read over his list multiple times, occasionally adding little notes here and there. What could this mean? Their behavior around Lloyd was defiantly odd. The other fire ninja wouldn't even attempt to land a blow on him. Did it have something to do with the fact he was the green ninja? Maybe Lloyd was the reason their elements were acting strange.

_No_, Cole quickly realized. Lloyd has fought beside them many times, but this was something new that wouldn't be affected by Lloyd unless he tried something different he hadn't done before. The black ninja mentally crossed that thought out, and tried to move on to another fact.

The ninja only attacked the ninja of the same element. That was indeed strange. Probably just to avoid a different element's property from affecting their own. Like how fire would just melt ice.

Not having any other ideas, Cole decided to bring his list to Sensei Wu. Maybe he could see some connection between these factors that didn't appear so obvious to the black ninja. Cole felt much better now though thinking this out more. Writing the list almost helped him in recovering. He felt much closer now to figuring out the mystery behind that night.

The earth ninja delivered a hard jab to an imaginary punching bag. She was practicing while she awaited the arrival of her teammates. There was something they needed to discuss. The defeat of the ninja.

As the earth ninja continued to punch and kick the air, that night at the party came back to her. Everything that happened, and how. Well, she didn't quite know how everything happened. The elements were indeed acting very strange. Though she had yet to bring that up to her sensei.

A wave of shame came over her when she remembered. Her sensei had worked out every part of their plan, even putting her in charge of the team. The earth ninja was instructed to attack the earth ninja protecting the fabled green ninja. Her companions were too told to only fight the ninja of the same element, and to destroy them. As for the green ninja, her sensei was to be the one to destroy him, preventing the prophecy of the green ninja destroying the darkness from coming true. Her sensei never said anything about their elemental powers taking to a mind of their own.

Feeling the heavy weight of guilt on her shoulders, the earth ninja could no longer continue her practices. She had to tell her sensei.

Stepping out if the training room, the earth ninja walked down the dark stone hall. Each individual stone smoothed down, obtaining a shiny black appearance. It was warm enough to be just above comfortable room temperature.

At the end of the hall stood two massive double doors. The golden doorknob stood out against the black door, emanating an audible creak as it turned. Through the doors was a giant black room. At the center stood a massive throne, seating her precious sensei. The earth ninja was quite intimidated by his tattered leathery wings and glowing purple eyes. They were the one thing that still made her nervous. They were after all the one thing that ruined her life several months ago.

"Why if it isn't my faithful earth ninja," her sensei smirked, giving the girl unease. "What brings you here on this fine morning?"

"Sensei," she started, before stopping to bow respectfully to her teacher. "There is something that I must tell you. That night at our first attack on the ninja... There is something I didn't tell you."

"And what would that be," the sensei asked, sitting up in interest. With the massive dark dragon looking down on her, the earth ninja felt even more ninja.

"W-when I was fighting with that other earth ninja, I... I couldn't quite control my element," she stuttered.

All her self confidence was gone now. Though she respected her sensei, he still scared her. She knew just how much power he had. She watched him kill her parents, forcing her to toughen up if she wanted to survive. If she continued to live her former life - hiding in her seat on the school bus, trying to ignore the hurtful comments made about her by her peers, never once standing up for herself or anyone - her sensei might kill her too, the same way he killed her parents.

"What?" Her sensei gasped, anger visible in his inhumane purple eyes. "I trained you to control this gift I bestowed upon you. Are you trying to suggest I didn't train you well enough to take down our enemies? Or maybe you aren't worthy of the title, Earth Master."

"No, I don't mean anything like that," the earth ninja replied hurriedly. This is the reaction she was afraid of. "None of us could control the elements. Not even the other ninja. Do you have any theories on why that could be?"

"Hmmm," her sensei thought, his voice rough and raspy. "I do not know the reason behind the misbehavior of your element. All I can say is this should be taken as a learning opportunity. Instead of looking at this as an impassable obstacle, let's think of it as a training exercise. We must try to find a way to perhaps use it to our own advantage."

"But sensei. How would we do that?" The earth ninja was quite confused by what her sensei was trying to say.

"I will not bring our operation to a halt because you can't control your element," her sensei replied, his tone hardening. "We must keep pushing on. I'm moving our attack forward. You have to lead the attack Saturday night. The sooner you get those elemental swords, and kidnap the green ninja, the better. When one divides, two will collide."

"And a new evil is born," the earth ninja agreed, bowing again. "I will make the plans with the others now."

With that, the earth ninja left her sensei, returning to the training room. In the training room, her three fellow ninja were warming up with stretches. The prophecy her sensei had said entered her mind as she watched the others finish their warm up.

_When one divides..._

_Two will collide..._

_And a new evil is born..._

The earth ninja herself was unsure of its exact meaning. Her sensei knew what it meant, but he told her it might jeopardize the plan if he shared it with her. He admitted that he shouldn't have even told her the prophecy in the first place. He put her under specific instruction not to share it with any of the others.

_When one divides..._

The thought hadn't crossed the earth ninja's mind until now, but could that possibly mean the elements? The way they couldn't be controlled? Was it possible that had to do with the prophecy?

_Two will collide..._

The line almost made her think of Yin and Yang. Was there anything that resembled the ancient symbol. The earth ninja thought long and hard about this before it finally hit her.

The light and dark islands of Ninjago! On the few maps she'd seen, they looked almost like Yin and Yang but split in half. But how could they ever collide?

Or maybe they could. If the first master of spinjitsu was able to divide Ninjago in two all those years ago, was it possible they could rejoin? Or maybe the prophecy was referencing when the first master of spinjitsu divided Ninjago. Maybe that was _When_ _one divides_. Then what was _Two will collide_?

"Hey!" Shouted a voice in her ear.

The earth ninja was immediately broken of her thoughts.

"Huh? Wha?" The earth ninja stuttered as it occurred to her that the other ninja had been trying to bring her out of her thoughts for several minutes now.

"You're late, we have to plan our attack," says the white ninja plainly.

_Yeah sure, I'm late_, thought the ninja of earth grumpily. She'd been in the training room waiting for nearly an hour before she went to see her sensei. If anything, she should be yelling at them for being late.

"Right, gather around and we'll start with assessing the situation," the black ninja nodded, taking a seat on the black training mat that rested on the cold stone floor.

"Sensei has informed us that we must lead an attack on the ninja if we are ever to get our hands on the elemental swords," the blue ninja of lightening stated joining with the fire ninja on the mat next to the ninja of ice. "Then there's that green ninja that also has to be dealt with. Man I wish sensei would allow us to attack him."

"You know he has control over all four elements," the ninja of fire reminded the blue ninja. "None of us would stand a chance against him. Sensei said that he would deal with the boy."

"I've spoken with sensei," the earth ninja started to explain some of what she discussed with her sensei. "We have to move the attack to be as soon as possible. We must ambush Destiny's Bounty Saturday night."

"Saturday," the fire ninja seemed very uncertain about this date. "Isn't that rather soon? Surely we shouldn't wait a little longer before launching such a big mission."

"Those are our orders," the earth ninja persisted, meeting the fire ninja with a firm gaze. The fire ninja diverted her eyes, looking rather uncomfortable. "I sense you have another reason you don't want to launch the attack Saturday."

"Is everything ok sis?" the ninja of ice asked the red ninja.

"Yeah, I'm fine," the fire ninja shook her head. "We can attack Saturday."

"Good," the earth ninja continued, choosing to ignore the fire ninja's odd behavior. "Now, we have to get to the elemental swords. The ninja will put up a good fight to protect them. But we can't let us stop us."

"What about the green ninja," the blue ninja piped up. "Surely he won't be putting up a good fight too. How will we deal with him?"

"Sensei's on top of that," the earth ninja confirmed for the youngest ninja. "All we have to worry about is the ninja. We must destroy them tonight."

**Oo, I sense some plot reveal here. Naw, this plot is so confusing, I don't even fully understand it. But as you can tell, this will be big. So these new ninja are planning to steal the elemental swords, and then there's this talk of kidnapping the green ninja. Then of course you can't forget about the misbehaving elements that seem to have everyone talking. And we're seeing that prophecy Kai ignored a few chapters ago. Oh Kai, you shouldn't have tossed that one aside. And to add to all this, there is our reluctant other fire master who doesn't want to launch the attack on Saturday night. I wonder why.**

**Any thoughts on all this information, please leave a review. Follows and favorite appreciated as well. :)**


	8. Saturday Night

**Here's the long awaited chapter! I hope y'all like it! Two months worth of work went into it. I honestly have know idea where that time went. One day, it's Easter, the next, I'm still getting over the sadness of the 8th graders leaving Pops Chorus. It's that moment when they're up there, singing the 8th grade tradition that you know they really are leaving next year.**

* * *

Saturday Night

"Ha! I win again!" Lloyd jumps up off the couch in triumph.

"Can we play another game now?" Jay rolled his eyes as the green ninja did a little gloating dance.

Lloyd, Jay, and Kai had been playing Fist To Face 2 for the past few hours. They'd played three whole games, Lloyd winning every single one. The blue ninja was just about fed up with it.

"How about this one?" Kai asked walking over to the game cabinet, pulling a disc out off the wooden shelf. "I don't think we've played it before."

But before Jay or Lloyd could reply, Nya poked her head in the room, a flustered look on her face."Hey, guys. Is Zane in here?" Her chin length black hair looked soft, as if it had been recently brushed. "It's his night to make dinner. It's getting late already, but I can't find him anywhere."

"It's Saturday already," Jay thought aloud, ignoring Nya's question.

"That reminds me!" Kai cried, dropping the game disc on the floor. "I have to go."

The fire ninja rushed out of the room, probably off to somewhere else on The Bounty. Jay took a side glance at the game disc Kai had suggested to find it lying shattered on the floor. The title wasn't even readable anymore. So much for playing something other than Fist To Face 2.

"Do either of you know where Zane is?" Nya repeated, growing rather impatient. She was loosing her temper after the others simply ignored her.

"I'm sure he's somewhere around," Lloyd reassured is fiery brother's younger sister. "I doubt he'd forget if it was his night to cook."

"Why don't you join us for some video games," Jay gestured for the girl to join beside him on the couch.

"Ok," Nya replied finally, reluctantly joining the blue ninja, picking up Kai's controller off the floor. "What are we playing?"

"Fist To Face 2," Lloyd replied," I've won every time so far," he boasted proudly.

"Let's see if you can take me," Nya challenged playfully.

"Bring it," Lloyd smirked, picking up his controller as well.

As the three began another game, Jay kept finding his thoughts drifting away. Where had all the time gone? It was last Friday when the party was ambushed. Over time, Cole's wound has gotten much better, and he can actually put up a decent fight, though he was still advised to take it easy on the training.

Kai just seemed to be in another world all week. Something was on his mind, Jay was certain of that. Maybe it was just a side affect from the medication he was using to keep his burns free of infection.

Lloyd and Zane seemed to be normal, at least on the outside. Nya too. They all seemed practically worry free, though he couldn't be certain of that, not without any way of reading their thoughts and feelings.

Jay couldn't understand how they weren't worrying about those other ninja. He couldn't seem to stop thinking about the lightening ninja from the party. He was having nightmares about her, destroying him, The Bounty, Nya, everything.

Only Sensei Wu still seemed to be concerned about the other ninja. He scanned over nearly every scroll Misako had brought. He didn't share any information with his students though. If he even had any.

"Jay!" Lloyd cried, snapping the blue ninja out of his thoughts. "You just pushed me off a cliff!"

Jay glanced at the screen to see that Lloyd's avatar had indeed fallen off the cliff. The red flashing letters reading "KO" indicated the green ninja was now out of the game.

"Uh... Wasn't that the point?" Jay stuttered, not entirely sure if he should feel sorry or victorious.

"Never mind," Lloyd muttered, throwing his controller on the floor.

"I think we've been playing for too long," Jay decided, also putting down his controller. "Maybe Zane's finally cooked dinner."

"He better," Nya agreed, resting her controller beside her, and turning off the TV. "It's almost nine, and I'm famished."

Jay hoped off the couch, gathered the game consoles, and brought them across the room, storing them back in the cabinet. As he opened the small wooden door of the cabinet, a stack of game discs feel on top of him, causing him to drop the controllers in surprise. The lightening ninja watched in slow motion as the discs feel and shattered on the floor like the one Kai had dropped earlier.

Jay let out a sigh as Lloyd did a face palm in frustration. Nya had a shocked look on her face as if the cascading game discs spooked her. Jay brushed the bits of broken discs off him, gathering himself to his feet to cross the floor to the closet, grabbing a broom to sweep the pieces up.

"Who stacked these?" Nya gasped finally. Her soft brown eyes still wide from what Jay assumed was the noise he didn't hear from the discs. "Someone should be in charge of keeping this thing organized so we don't loose anymore games this way."

Jay felt like he should say something, but no words could escape his lips. Lloyd seemed to be in the same sort of trance. The blue ninja shook himself, hoping of clearing this spacey-ness that was clogging his head. Jay had found himself very often somewhere other than the present. The dreams haunting every moment of shut eye he was given. He was losing sleep thanks to those haunting images. The most reoccurring one was definitely the worst yet.

Night after night, Jay found himself standing in the middle of an empty field, dark storm clouds filled the sky. Lightening would begin to strike around him with deafening cracks of thunder. If he listened closely to the thunder, it would begin to sound like a girl's scream. As he listened closer, those screams became Nya's. All he could do was listen in horror as the terrorizing outcries of the girl he cared for most rang through his ears.

Jay had tried everything to block the screams out of his head. But with every attempt to mute them, they only became louder.

Jay had woken in a cold sweat every night over the past week. He tossed and turned in bed for a few hours before falling asleep again. To his dismay, he only found himself back in that field, surrounded by Nya's screams.

* * *

Adrenaline coursed through the Ninja of Lightening's body as she leaped from rooftop to rooftop with her companions. Running, running, running, JUMP! She couldn't seem to prevent the terror in her thoughts as street after street filled with cars and busy civilians trying to get their night errands done passed some two hundred feet below her.

Run, run, run, JUMP!

The ninja were trying to find the mysterious Destiny's Bounty that served as the headquarters for the green ninja. The home of the elemental swords.

Run, run, run, JUMP!

"Who... Would have thought... Finding a flying ship... Floating over a crowded city... Would be so difficult," the lightening ninja panted between breaths in their running, jumping game.

The earth ninja came to a sudden halt in front of her, causing the other three to go skidding to a stop. "It's all the heavy clouds. They're decreasing our visibility, which is already pretty restrained due to the dark."

The lightening ninja rolled her eyes. These all just sounded like excuses. Ways to avoid saying 'I have no idea where the heck we are in this blasted city'.

"On the brighter side, this will provide us with an easy escape. Those ninja will have no idea what hit 'em by the time we're done with them," the earth ninja added, pacing in front of the others as she described the pros of their situation.

"Who's the lucky one sensei permitted to handle the green ninja," the fire ninja asked, curiosity and excitement glittering in her eyes.

"He doesn't believe we're far enough along in our training to tackle such a mission," the earth ninja replied with slight disappointment that her sensei didn't trust them to carry out possibly the most thrilling mission yet. "He will deal with it personally."

The lightening ninja hung her head in dismay. After training for so long. Countless exercises in physical, emotional, and mental strengths. Teamwork and trust building missions. All was leading up to the capture of the green ninja. To prove to her sensei she wasn't that little girl he picked up off the street six months ago. She had grown fast in that time. A little too fast maybe.

The others had grown too. After everything they went through together, this was the ultimate test. The fact her sensei wouldn't even let them try meant they didn't meet his expectations. They failed their biggest test without even taking it.

"C'mon. We need to get moving," the earth ninja beckoned, standing near the roof's edge. "Destiny's Bounty isn't gonna find itself for us." Broken of her thoughts, the lightening ninja looked up from her feet and followed.

Run, run, run, JUMP!

* * *

Kai tossed his books off the dresser. Most of the room around him was pretty torn up. How could he misplace his phone on tonight of all nights?

"Kai," called a muffled voice from the other side of the room's heavy wooden door. A light knocking followed.

"Uh- come in," Kai replied, frantically trying to toss some of the mess to the side. If Cole or Lloyd happened to be the one standing behind that door, they would have his head for making such a mess of their room.

"Coming to dinner?" asked a voice Kai recognized to be his sister's once she opened the door.

"Uh... Shortly," Kai replied, returning to his search, tossing random objects left and right. Nya looked quizzically at her brother, eventually deciding not to question his reasons for tearing apart his room.

It was at least ten minutes after Nya stopped by before the red ninja finally found his phone. With speedy fingers, he dialed Melissa's number. Hopefully she'd be forgiving of his forgetfulness.

For what felt like hours, all Kai could hear was the shrill buzz coming from the other end.

"Hi! You've reached Melissa," said a monotone voice he recognized to be a recorded voice mail. His face fell in dismay.

He hung up after that.

* * *

The careful ninjas did their best to make as little noise as possible when climbing aboard Destiny's Bounty. This proved to be difficult, considering hard wood made quite a creak when it was landed on. Without wasting a moment, the foursome his beneath some crates someone foolishly left on the deck.

"Remember the plan?" The Ninja of Earth asked her teammates in a hoarse whisper. The other three simply nodded, not to add any sound into the silent night air. Assured that everyone knew the plan, the ninja clothed in black gestured with her finger for the Ninja of Ice and the Ninja of Lightening to move across the deck, closer to the bridge.

Right as the Ninja of Fire was about to make her move, an aggravating noise filled the air. The two ninja that remained by the crates cringed at the sound.

"What is that incessant noise?" growled the black ninja, gloved hands clasped over her ears.

Embarrassed, the Ninja of Fire pulled out a small phone. "I'm sorry! I don't even know why I have this with me!"

"Why would you have a phone with you? Just, why?"

"I didn't know I had it on my person! I swear it was on my dresser when we left!"

"Just turn it off, before you alert everyone of our presence!"

The Ninja of Fire quickly silenced the phone, but before putting it away, she couldn't help but sneak a peak at the caller ID. Stopping to read the little name, she gave a very audible sigh as she slid the device into a hidden pocket.

"Sorry," she barely whispered under her breath. "It's gonna have to wait, Kai."

**Well, secret's out. We know who these ninja are(if you couldn't have figured it out already)! Or at least, we know one of them. So, if we know the identity of the Ninja of Fire, who are the others? O.o**


End file.
